They don’t know who is flying in!

KOZHIKODE: Call it the irony of parliamentary democracy. To ensure that the helicopter carrying Congress president Rahul Gandhi won’t kick up dust during landing and take off, as many as 20 members of the Paniya tribal community of the Poovanchi colony at Chethalayam in Wayanad had to spread wet cow dung with their bare hands and feet over the temporary helipad set up at the SKMJ High School ground at

Kalpetta

in Wayanad on Wednesday evening.


Stranger still, many of the tribal workers didn’t know what the arrangements were being made for and who was going to fly down to Kalpetta.

Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to arrive at Kalpetta on Thursday morning to file his nomination papers for the

Lok Sabha

elections from the Wayanad constituency.

Members of the tribal community diluted the cow dung by mixing it with water and spread it over the ground. The trial landing of helicopter had kicked up a dust cloud on Wednesday evening.

The tribal people were roped in by a contracting company, which was assigned the work of dust proofing the helipad using cow dung and cleaning up of the entire school ground for the VVIP visit. Public works department had assigned the work to the company.

“This is not a pleasant work. The dung is now all over my hands and legs. It would have been good if there was at least a cover to wrap the hands. But we have no other way but to do what the bosses order us to do. Without the daily wage of Rs 350 I cannot support my family,” said Ammini, a 37-yearold tribal woman.

K Mujeeb, supervisor of the Meenangadi- based contracting company said that a tractor-load of around three tonnes of cow dung was hurriedly arranged from a dairy farm nearby for the work.

“We were told by the PWD officials to do whatever the

Special Protection Group

(SPG) people direct us to do. There was lot of plastic waste on the ground like toffee wrappers and used ice cream cups and we cleaned it up and coated the helipad with cow dung paste,” said Mujeeb.

Velukkana (57) another tribesman, also didn’t know who was coming in the helicopter. “Now there is no work in the agricultural sector following the damage caused by the floods. So many tribesmen are now taking up whatever work that comes their way. We get Rs 450 for a day’s work but a kg of rice now costs Rs 50. Life holds nothing but uncertainty for us as the forest department is claiming ownership of the small plot that I hold now,” he added.

The workers completed the work of spreading cow dung over the helipad in one -and-a-half hours. They said that they have been working for the contracting company for quite some time now and were paid daily wages of Rs 350 for women and Rs 450 for men.

Asked whether she knew who was coming in the helicopter, a tribal worker Thangu said, “Yes. Is it some minister?”

Wayanad district

has the highest concentration of tribal people in the state

(18.5%) and many of them have been facing a host of survival issues like lack of land and proper housing.Call it the irony of parliamentary democracy. To ensure that the helicopter carrying Congress president Rahul Gandhi won’t kick up dust during landing and take off, as many as 20 members of the Paniya tribal community of the Poovanchi colony at Chethalayam in Wayanad had to spread wet cow dung with their bare hands and feet over the temporary helipad set up at the SKMJ High School ground at Kalpetta in Wayanad on Wednesday evening.


Stranger still, many of the tribal workers didn’t know what the arrangements were being made for and who was going to fly down to Kalpetta.

Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to arrive at Kalpetta on Thursday morning to file his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections from the Wayanad constituency.

Members of the tribal community diluted the cow dung by mixing it with water and spread it over the ground. The trial landing of helicopter had kicked up a dust cloud on Wednesday evening.

The tribal people were roped in by a contracting company, which was assigned the work of dustproofing the helipad using cow dung and cleaning up of the entire school ground for the VVIP visit. Public works department had assigned the work to the company.

“This is not a pleasant work. The dung is now all over my hands and legs. It would have been good if there was at least a cover to wrap the hands. But we have no other way but to do what the bosses order us to do. Without the daily wage of Rs 350 I cannot support my family,” said Ammini, a 37-yearold tribal woman.

K Mujeeb, supervisor of the Meenangadi- based contracting company said that a tractor-load of around three tonnes of cow dung was hurriedly arranged from a dairy farm nearby for the work.

“We were told by the PWD officials to do whatever the Special Protection Group (SPG) people direct us to do. There was lot of plastic waste on the ground like toffee wrappers and used ice cream cups and we cleaned it up and coated the helipad with cow dung paste,” said Mujeeb.

Velukkana (57) another tribesman, also didn’t know who was coming in the helicopter. “Now there is no work in the agricultural sector following the damage caused by the floods. So many tribesmen are now taking up whatever work that comes their way. We get Rs 450 for a day’s work but a kg of rice now costs Rs 50. Life holds nothing but uncertainty for us as the forest department is claiming ownership of the small plot that I hold now,” he added.

The workers completed the work of spreading cow dung over the helipad in one -and-a-half hours. They said that they have been working for the contracting company for quite some time now and were paid daily wages of Rs 350 for women and Rs 450 for men.

Asked whether she knew who was coming in the helicopter, a tribal worker Thangu said, “Yes. Is it some minister?” Wayanad district has the highest concentration of tribal people in the state (18.5%) and many of them have been facing a host of survival issues like lack of land and proper housing.